Zoey Jones, three, (pictured) was born with a rare defect known as VACTERL syndrome - and was told she'd need heart and lung transplants to survive. However, a team of specialists was able to intervene and operate on the little girl, sparing her from the transplant list

Zoey’s mother and her father, Blake Jones, were aware Zoey would have health problems before she was born.

Ms Goddard said: ‘At our 20-week ultrasound, they found the heart problem – so we knew early on that she would have a heart condition.’

The parents-to-be were told Zoey likely had some form of congenital heart defect.

In order to be diagnosed with VACTERL, you must have at least three of those features.

Ms Goddard said: ‘Zoey has the three.’

The little girl has ‘butterfly vertebrae’ – which can cause scoliosis when she gets older – as well as cardiac and trachea-esophageal defects.

She has a full heart, but the right side doesn’t function as well as the left – and so, all the ‘squeezing power’ comes from the left side, her mother added.

When Zoey was born, she was given a 75 per cent chance of survival – yet her heart was doing surprisingly well.

When Zoey (pictured left, with her mother)was born, her esophagus was unattached from her trachea and her small intestine was unattached from her stomach. The little girl (pictured right) also had development problems in her heart and lungs from birth

WHAT IS VACTERL?

VACTERL is a rare syndrome that occurs in one in 10,000 to 40,000 newborns.

Ms Goddard said: ‘In December of 2014, the hospital at Vanderbilt University said there’s nothing else we can do for her; your best option is to get a lung heart transplant somewhere else.’

Luckily, Nationwide Hospital was equipped to handle such a procedure.

In March 2015, they flew Ms Goddard and Zoey up to Ohio to look at her heart and lungs.

Dr Darren Berman, of The Heart Center at Nationwide, said: ‘When Zoey came to our Heart Center, we were collecting data and images for her transplant.

‘In the [catheterization] lab, we found that blocking some of the blood flow to her lungs by using a vascular plug to close off one of her surgically-placed shunts lowered the pressure in her lung arteries enough that operating might be possible.’

And so, the doctors informed Ms Goddard that they would be able to perform surgery in just two weeks – instead of having the little girl wait around for a spot on the transplant list.

Ms Goddard told Daily Mail Online: ‘She would have been on the lower end of the transplant list because she was somewhat stable.

Because the family hails from Nashville, Zoey had been treated by doctors at Vanderbilt University - but the hospital did not perform transplants. That's why the family sought help from doctors at Nationwide Children's Hospital (pictured with an X-ray of Zoey's heart and lungs)

The doctors discovered that the little girl could benefit from surgery, rather than a transplant. Now, Zoey (pictured center) is learning how to walk and talk - and starting to act like a typical toddler

‘It wasn’t life or death for her right then, so she wouldn’t have been a priority until it became life or death.’

The doctors also told Ms Goddard that Zoey’s recovery would take quite a while.

Ms Goddard packed up her belongings and got an apartment in Ohio – and prepared to live there for two months while Zoey recovered.

However, the procedure went so well, the family was able to return home in just 10 days.

She acts like a three-year-old, and she wants to be a three-year-old

Torri Goddard, Zoey's mother

Since the operation, doctors have been pleased with Zoey’s progress.

She’s not in the clear – and may eventually need a heart transplant when she is older – but since the surgery, Zoey has learned to walk by herself and she’s been weaning off the vent.

Zoey’s also been learning how to talk – since her tracheostomy tube had prevented her from doing so before.

Ms Goddard said: ‘She acts like a three-year-old, and she wants to be a three-year-old.’

At the end of the month, Ms Goddard and Zoey will travel back up to Ohio for a follow-up visit.

If Zoey’s heart and lung pressures are good, she will be able to have another surgery that will further improve her heart condition.

Ms Goddard said she and Zoey’s father wouldn’t have been able to make it through such trying times without the support of their family and friends.

‘Being a heart parent now, even just other heart parents become a support system – and some of those parents don’t have any support at all,’ Ms Goddard said.